The present invention relates to footwear and, more particularly, to a removable and reversible covering accessory for the tongue of a shoe that is capable of displaying an infinite variety of indicia or designs, or combinations thereof, to alter the appearance of the shoe as desired.
Footwear today has become a popular avenue to display artistic style and impressions, exude fanciful colors and designs, and even present trademarks or logos of the manufacturers. Various patents have issued for devices that provide for the attachment of decorations or that provide for alteration of appearances of footwear.
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,422 to Valteau, III, entitled xe2x80x9cDecorative Attachment For Footwearxe2x80x9d a decorative shoe shield is disclosed. The decorative shoe shield is suitable for detachable positioning and securing to the shoelaces of an article of footwear. The shoe shield contains a plurality of openings formed in the body of the shoe shield to receive the shoelaces such that, upon the tightening of the shoelaces, the shoe shield becomes securely connected to the footwear. The top surface of the shoe shield is adapted to receive decorative indicia imprinted thereon. A shortcoming of this device is that the decorative shoe shield is required to be secured to the shoelaces of the footwear. The usefulness of this decorative shoe shield is, therefore, not adaptable for footwear that does not contain shoelaces. Another shortcoming is that the application and securing of the device to the shoelaces is time consuming and potentially cumbersome. Still another shortcoming is that the shoe shield contains only one decoration. Thus, to obtain a different appearance through the display of a different decoration requires a second shoe shield.
Another example is U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,477 to Mathis et al. entitled xe2x80x9cRemovable Shoelace Cover For A Shoexe2x80x9d which discloses a cover that is positioned over the top of the shoelaces of footwear, such as a gym shoe. The cover is secured to the shoe by a number of straps attached to the shoe that are threaded through slots provided in the cover. The cover incorporates an interchangeable fashion panel that is separately secured to the top of the cover. An inherent shortcoming of this patent is that the device requires three separate pieces to display the fashion panel on footwear: the straps, the cover, and the fashion panel. Another shortcoming of this device is that the straps are required to be attached to the shoe. Thus, if the cover is not attached to shoe, the shoe and its appearance is burdened by the attachment of useless straps. Still another shortcomning is that the fashion panel is separately secured to top of the cover and, therefore, the fashion panel is susceptible to being accidentally moved into undesirable viewing positions or pulled from the shoe altogether. Still another shortcoming is that the fashion panel contains the decoration on one side and an adhering means on the other. As a result, this device is not capable of providing a completely different fashion statement on the other side and, therefore, is not reversible.
Likewise, another patent that suffers from the inherent shortcomings of the previous patent is U.S. Pat. No. 5,701,688 to Crowley entitled xe2x80x9cProtective Shoelace Coverxe2x80x9d. This patent discloses another shoelace cover that is detachably secured to the upper portion of a shoe which is provided with mating fasteners permanently adhered to the exterior of the shoe. The shoelace cover is provided with a translucent window to permit the shoelaces to be seen, particularly if the shoelaces are of different colors, and to provide a medium within the shoelace cover to provide a decorative emblem or feature. In addition to the shortcomings previously enumerated, although this patent eliminates one piece from the previous patent to display the decoration on footwear, it still requires the use of two separate pieces: the mating fasteners on the shoe and the shoelace cover.
To eliminate many of the shortcomings provided by the shoelace covering patents, several patents have been issued for the display of decoration on the tongue of the footwear. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,499 to Attilieni entitled xe2x80x9cFootwear Tongue With Removable Decorative Elementxe2x80x9d a tongue is provided with a housing to secure an engageable and disengageable decorative element. The housing also encloses a light emission apparatus positioned below the decorative element. The apparatus is activated by the walking of the wearer and the decorative element is made of transparent material to emit the light and, thereby, view the decoration. An inherent problem with this device is that the housing is permanently manufactured into the tongue. As a result, the decorative element can never be removed from the shoe. Another problem is that if the decorative element is removed or lost and is not replaced by another decorative element, the shoe becomes an eye soar as the light emission apparatus is constantly exposed and emitting an unpleasant light absent a decoration. Still another problem is that the decorative element of the tongue does not permit the reversibility of designs within a single element.
The reversible problem of the tongue for footwear is solved by U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,321 to Tonkel entitled xe2x80x9cReversible Shoe Tonguexe2x80x9d. This patent discloses a tongue that is reversible at the selection of the wearer to provide a selection of two sides which may bear individual displays or indicia. A shortcoming of this design is that the wearer is limited to two designs only: the selection of the design on one side and the selection of the design on the other side. If the wearer desired to display any other type of design, the wearer must purchase another shoe. Another shortcoming is that the design selections and the tongue are manufactured as an integral unit with the footwear. As a result, the wearer does not have the capability to wear the footwear without the design, if desired.
Thus, there is a need and there has never been disclosed a shoe tongue accessory that is releasably secured to the tongue of a shoe and which provides reversible capabilities to display a multiplicity of indicia or designs.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a shoe tongue accessory that is provided with a multiplicity of indicia or designs. A related object of the present invention is to provide an accessory with reversible characteristics. Still another related object of the present invention is to provide a wearer with the capability to alter the appearance of the footwear as desired.
Another related object of the present invention is to provide a shoe tongue accessory that is easily secured and removable from the tongue of the footwear. A related object of the invention is to provide a convenient means to attach the accessory to the footwear.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a shoe tongue accessory that is adaptable to various sizes and shapes of all footwear and different manufacturers.
Other objects of the present invention will become more apparent to persons having ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The present invention is a shoe tongue accessory that is designed for releasable attachment to the tongue of footwear and is capable of displaying a multitude of indicia or designs to alter the appearance of the footwear. The shoe tongue accessory consists of a first fragment and a second fragment that coact to form a pouch which is designed to receive the tongue of the footwear. The pouch is secured to the tongue through the combination of a strap affixed on the first fragment and strap fasteners affixed to the second fragment. This combination permits the strap fasteners to engage the straps and secure the tongue within the pouch. The first fragment and the second fragment each display different indicia or designs such that the wearer is permitted to reverse the indicia or designs as desired.